Górnik Zabrze

Górnik Zabrze Spółka Akcyjna, commonly referred to as Górnik Zabrze S.A. or simply Górnik Zabrze, is a Polish football club from Zabrze. Górnik is one of the most successful Polish football clubs in history, winning the second-most Polish Championship titles together with Ruch Chorzów. The club was a dominant force in the 1960s and 1980s. Górnik holds the record for winning the most consecutive Polish Championship titles (5) and Polish Cup titles (5). In addition, the club was 1969–70 Cup Winners' Cup runners-up.

They currently compete in the Ekstraklasa, the top tier of the national football league system. The club plays in a white or dark blue-red kit, and is based at the Arena Zabrze. Their main local rival is Ruch Chorzów.

First years
The club was founded in 1948 after several smaller sports associations – KS Zjednoczenie, KS Pogoń, KS Skra, and KS Concordia – were merged into a single organization, which took the name "Górnik", the Polish word for "Miner", reflecting the fact that Zabrze was an important coal-mining centre.

In 1950 Górnik joined the Opole Silesia regional league. In 1952 the club was promoted to the Polish Second Division. Their first game in the second tier was against Skra Częstochowa, and was witnessed by 20,000 fans, with Górnik winning 5–1. The whole season was very successful and Górnik finished second overall, behind Górnik Wałbrzych.

The club was promoted to the top division in 1955. In their first game in the top flight Górnik beat local rivals Ruch Chorzów 3–1, with 25,000 in attendance; the club finished the season in sixth place.

First successes
In 1957, just a year after promotion, Górnik won its first championship of Poland. The team, with star, Ernest Pohl, was third in 1958, to regain the crown in 1959 and 1961, together with such players as Stanisław Oślizło and Hubert Kostka. In 1961 Górnik for the first time appeared in European Cups, losing in the first round to Tottenham Hotspur.

Golden years
The next championship, won in 1963, marked the beginning of an unusual streak of five consecutive titles (1963, 64, 65, 66 and 67), which is a Polish record.

Górnik's biggest success in European football took place in 1970 (even though in Poland the team was second, after Legia Warsaw). In the UEFA Cup Winners Cup, Gornik beat all their opponents – Olympiacos, Rangers, Levski Sofia and AS Roma, reaching the final, which took place in Vienna. There, Manchester City turned out to be the better team, winning 2–1. The following season Górnik would once again play Manchester City, with the 1970 final being repeated this time in the quarter-final.

Late 1970s and early 1980s
During the mid-1970s Górnik form deteriorated and in late spring of 1978, the team was relegated to the Second Division. However, it returned after one year and in games of 1979–80, Zabrze's side finished sixth. In 1984, after purchasing of a group of talented players (Ryszard Komornicki, Waldemar Matysik, Eugeniusz Cebrat, Andrzej Zgutczyński, Tadeusz Dolny, Andrzej Pałasz), Górnik finished fourth, which was a sign of better times.

Late 1980s until now
Between 1985 and 1988 Górnik again marked a magnificent streak, with four consecutive championships. Zabrze's side also played versus renowned European powerhouses, such as Bayern Munich, Anderlecht, Hamburger SV, Juventus and Real Madrid. In 1994 Górnik competed again for the title and with players as Jerzy Brzęczek, Grzegorz Mielcarski, Tomasz Wałdoch, hopes were high. Before the last round of the league the standings at the top were: Legia 47 points and Górnik 45 points. Since the two teams were to face each other in Warsaw, Górnik still had a chance to win the title. However the game ended in a 1–1 tie which gave Legia the crown. Before Legia scored the goal which gave her the title (the score 0–1 would mean the title for Górnik), the referee of the match – Mr Redzinski – sent off one by one 3 players from Górnik's squad, and Górnik had to finished match with only 8 players against 11 players of Legia. It was the last match in Mr Redzinski's career.

In the same year, Górnik played its last so far game in European Cups, losing to Admira Wacker Vienna.

In the spring of 2007 Górnik got a new sponsor – German insurance company Allianz. However, after finishing 16th in the Ekstraklasa in 2008–09, the club was relegated to the Polish First League, the second level of Polish football, during the 2009–10 season. In June 2010, the club earned promotion back to the Ekstraklasa for the 2010–11 season. Since then, Górnik has promoted a number of players to the Poland national team and transferred several players to stronger leagues, including Arkadiusz Milik, Łukasz Skorupski, Szymon Żurkowski and Paweł Bochniewicz.

League

 * Ekstraklasa
 * Champions: 1957, 1959, 1961, 1962–63, 1963–64, 1964–65, 1965–66, 1966–67, 1970–71, 1971–72, 1984–85, 1985–86, 1986–87, 1987–88
 * Runners-up: 1962, 1968–69, 1973–74, 1990–91

Cup

 * Polish Cup
 * Winners: 1964–65, 1967–68, 1968–69, 1969–70, 1970–71, 1971–72
 * Runners-up: 1955–56, 1956–57, 1961–62, 1965–66, 1985–86, 1991–92, 2000–01
 * Polish League Cup
 * Winners: 1978
 * Polish Super Cup
 * Winners: 1988

Europe

 * European Cup
 * Quarter-finalists: 1967–68
 * UEFA Cup Winners' Cup
 * Runners-up: 1969–70

Youth teams

 * Polish U-19 Championship
 * Champions: 1967, 1989
 * Runners-up: 1985, 2001, 2011
 * Third place: 2015
 * Polish U-19 Championship
 * Champions: 1992, 1996, 2023
 * Runners-up: 2014

Notable former players

 * 🇵🇱 Jan Banaś
 * 🇵🇱 Marek Bęben
 * 🇵🇱 Paweł Bochniewicz
 * 🇵🇱 Piotr Brożek
 * 🇵🇱 Jerzy Brzęczek
 * 🇵🇱 Ryszard Cyroń
 * 🇵🇱 Jerzy Gorgoń
 * 🇵🇱 Tomasz Hajto
 * 🇵🇱 Andrzej Iwan
 * 🇵🇱 Piotr Jegor
 * 🇵🇱 Ireneusz Jeleń
 * 🇵🇱 Damian Kądzior
 * 🇵🇱 Ryszard Komornicki
 * 🇵🇱 Dariusz Koseła
 * 🇵🇱 Kamil Kosowski
 * 🇵🇱 Hubert Kostka
 * 🇵🇱 Marek Koźmiński
 * 🇵🇱 Ryszard Kraus
 * 🇵🇱 Rafał Kurzawa
 * 🇵🇱 Marcin Kuźba
 * 🇵🇱 Włodzimierz Lubański
 * 🇵🇱 Arkadiusz Milik
 * 🇵🇱 Kazimierz Moskal
 * 🇵🇱 Andrzej Niedzielan
 * 🇵🇱 Stanisław Oślizło
 * 🇵🇱 Michał Pazdan
 * 🇵🇱 Rafał Pietrzak
 * 🇵🇱 Ernest Pohl
 * 🇵🇱 Michał Probierz
 * 🇵🇱 Grzegorz Sandomierski
 * 🇵🇱 Łukasz Skorupski
 * 🇵🇱 Ryszard Staniek
 * 🇵🇱 Andrzej Szarmach
 * 🇵🇱 Marek Szemoński
 * 🇵🇱 Zygfryd Szołtysik
 * 🇵🇱 Jan Urban
 * 🇵🇱 Tomasz Wałdoch
 * 🇵🇱 Józef Wandzik
 * 🇵🇱 Robert Warzycha
 * 🇵🇱 Mateusz Wieteska
 * 🇵🇱 Przemysław Wiśniewski
 * 🇵🇱 Tomasz Zahorski
 * 🇵🇱 Andrzej Zgutczyński
 * 🇵🇱 Szymon Żurkowski
 * 🇦🇱 Enkeleid Dobi
 * 🇧🇦 Ensar Arifović
 * 🇧🇦 Armin Ćerimagić
 * 🇧🇦 Boris Pandža
 * 🇧🇦 Vladimir Sladojević
 * 🇧🇬 Dimitar Makriev
 * 🇧🇫 Prejuce Nakoulma
 * 🇭🇷 Ivica Križanac
 * Anthony van den Hurk
 * 🇪🇪 Sergei Mošnikov
 * 🇫🇮 Richard Jensen
 * Valerian Gvilia
 * 🇩🇪 Michał Bemben
 * 🇬🇭 Richmond Boakye
 * 🇬🇷 Giorgos Giakoumakis
 * 🇬🇳 José Kanté
 * 🇮🇸 Adam Örn Arnarson
 * 🇯🇵 Kanji Okunuki
 * 🇱🇻 Mārcis Ošs
 * 🇱🇻 Andrejs Prohorenkovs
 * 🇱🇻 Māris Smirnovs
 * Aco Stojkov
 * 🇸🇰 Róbert Jež
 * 🇸🇰 Erik Jirka
 * 🇸🇰 Roman Procházka
 * 🇸🇮 Blaž Vrhovec
 * 🇪🇸 Igor Angulo
 * 🇸🇪 Emil Bergström
 * 🇿🇼 Dickson Choto
 * 🇿🇼 Shingayi Kaondera

Managers

 * 🇵🇱 Ginter Pawelczyk (1948–49)
 * 🇵🇱 Teodor Meiser (1949)
 * 🇵🇱 Karol Luks (1949–50)
 * 🇵🇱 Gerard Wodarz (1950–54)
 * 🇵🇱 Augustyn Dziwisz (1954–56)
 * 🇵🇱 Paweł Mościński (1956)
 * 🇵🇱 Hubert Skolik (1957)
 * 🇭🇺 Zoltán Opata (1957–58)
 * 🇵🇱 Hubert Skolik (1958–59)
 * 🇭🇺 Janos Steiner (1959)
 * 🇵🇱 Feliks Karolek (1960)
 * Vilém Lugr (1960)
 * 🇵🇱 Augustyn Dziwisz (1 July 1960 – 30 June 1962)
 * 🇵🇱 Feliks Karolek (1962)
 * 🇵🇱 Ewald Cebula (1962–63)
 * 🇵🇱 Feliks Karolek (1963)
 * 🇵🇱 Hubert Skolik (1963)
 * 🇵🇱 Feliks Karolek (1964)
 * 🇵🇱 Hubert Skolik (1964)
 * 🇭🇺 Ferenc Farsang (1964–65)
 * 🇵🇱 Władysław Giergiel (1 July 1965 – 30 June 1966)
 * 🇭🇺 Géza Kalocsay (1 July 1966 – 30 June 1969)
 * 🇵🇱 Michał Matyas (1969–70)
 * 🇭🇺 Ferenc Szusza (1970–71)
 * 🇵🇱 A. Brzeżańczyk (1 July 1971 – 30 April 1972)
 * 🇵🇱 Jan Kowalski (1972)
 * 🇭🇺 Gyula Szücs (1972)
 * 🇵🇱 Jan Kowalski (1972–73)
 * 🇵🇱 Teodor Wieczorek (1973–75)
 * 🇵🇱 Andrzej Gajewski (1975–76)
 * 🇵🇱 Józef Trepka (1976)
 * 🇵🇱 Hubert Kostka (30 May 1976 – 5 December 1977)
 * 🇵🇱 Władysław Jan Żmuda (13 December 1977 – 24 May 1980)
 * 🇵🇱 Zdzisław Podedworny (1980–83)
 * 🇵🇱 Hubert Kostka (1 December 1983 – 30 May 1986)
 * 🇵🇱 Lesław Ćmikiewicz (1 June 1986 – 14 October 1986)
 * 🇵🇱 Antoni Piechniczek (15 October 1986 – 30 June 1987)
 * 🇵🇱 Marcin Bochynek (1 July 1987 – 30 June 1989)
 * 🇵🇱 Zdzisław Podedworny (1989)
 * 🇵🇱 Jan Kisiel (1989–90)
 * 🇵🇱 Jan Kowalski (1990–92)
 * 🇵🇱 Janusz Kowalik (1992)
 * 🇵🇱 Alojzy Łysk (1992–93)
 * 🇵🇱 Henryk Apostel (1 July 1993 – 31 December 1993)
 * 🇵🇱 Hubert Kostka (1 January 1994 – 22 May 1994)
 * 🇵🇱 Edward Lorens (23 May 1994 – 2 June 1995)
 * 🇵🇱 Stanisław Oślizło (1995)
 * 🇵🇱 Adam Michalski (1995–96)
 * 🇵🇱 Jan Kowalski (1996)
 * 🇵🇱 Jan Żurek (11 August 1996 – 11 September 1996)
 * 🇵🇱 Piotr Kocąb (1996)
 * 🇵🇱 Henryk Apostel (1 January 1997 – 10 November 1997)
 * 🇵🇱 Jan Kowalski (1997)
 * 🇵🇱 Jan Żurek (1 December 1997 – 15 March 2000)
 * 🇵🇱 Józef Dankowski (int.) (16 March 2000 – 19 March 2000)
 * 🇵🇱 Marcin Bochynek (20 March 2000 – 9 April 2000)
 * 🇵🇱 Mieczysław Broniszewski (10 April 2000 – 16 September 2000)
 * 🇵🇱 Józef Dankowski (17 September 2000 – 7 May 2001)
 * 🇵🇱 Marek Piotrowicz (2001)
 * 🇵🇱 Waldemar Fornalik (10 May 2001 – 31 October 2001)
 * 🇵🇱 Marek Piotrowicz (2 November 2001 – 31 December 2001)
 * 🇵🇱 Waldemar Fornalik (12 January 2002 – 4 April 2004)
 * 🇨🇿 Verner Lička (5 April 2004 – 13 December 2004)
 * 🇵🇱 Edward Lorens (13 December 2004 – 3 February 2005)
 * 🇵🇱 Marek Wleciałowski (7 February 2005 – 31 October 2005)
 * 🇵🇱 Marek Motyka (4 November 2005 – 13 January 2006)
 * 🇵🇱 Ryszard Komornicki (13 January 2006 – 19 April 2006)
 * 🇵🇱 Przemysław Cecherz (int.) (19 April 2006 – 26 April 2006)
 * 🇵🇱 Marek Motyka (26 April 2006 – 12 December 2006)
 * 🇵🇱 Zdzisław Podedworny (2006–07)
 * 🇵🇱 Marek Motyka (13 March 2007 – 20 May 2007)
 * 🇵🇱 Marek Kostrzewa (2007)
 * 🇵🇱 Marek Piotrowicz (2007)
 * 🇵🇱 Ryszard Wieczorek (1 July 2007 – 10 September 2008)
 * 🇵🇱 Marcin Bochynek (int.) (2 September 2008 – 16 September 2008)
 * 🇵🇱 Henryk Kasperczak (16 September 2008 – 3 June 2009)
 * 🇵🇱 Ryszard Komornicki (18 June 2009 – 15 December 2009)
 * 🇵🇱 Adam Nawałka (1 January 2010 – 31 October 2013)
 * 🇵🇱 Bogdan Zając (int.) (1 November 2013 – 10 November 2013)
 * 🇵🇱 Ryszard Wieczorek (12 November 2013 – 9 March 2014)
 * 🇵🇱 Robert Warzycha (12 March 2014 – 30 June 2014)
 * 🇵🇱 Józef Dankowski (1 July 2014 – 30 June 2015)
 * 🇵🇱 Robert Warzycha (1 July 2015 – 13 August 2015)
 * 🇵🇱 Leszek Ojrzyński (13 August 2015 – 3 March 2016)
 * 🇵🇱 Jan Żurek (3 March 2016 – 2 June 2016)
 * 🇵🇱 Marcin Brosz (3 June 2016 – 27 May 2021)
 * 🇵🇱 Jan Urban (27 May 2021 – 15 June 2022)
 * 🇩🇪 Bartosch Gaul (23 June 2022 – 18 March 2023)
 * 🇵🇱 Jan Urban (18 March 2023 – present)

Supporters and rivalries
Górnik Zabrze is believed to have one of the largest and most loyal fanbases in Poland, especially in the Katowice metropolitan area. In the 2016–17 season, Górnik Zabrze drew the highest average home attendance (10,636) of all second level Polish football clubs. They also drew the highest attendance in their league (20,987). After their comeback to the top flight in 2017, Górnik drew the highest average home attendance in Polish football, surpassing current top teams Lech Poznań and Legia Warsaw, with most league games being sold-out.

Górnik holds a long-standing rivalry with Upper Silesian side Ruch Chorzów, known as the Great Silesian Derby. Other main rivals are Piast Gliwice, Polonia Bytom, Legia Warsaw and Zagłębie Sosnowiec.

Torcida Zabrze is named after the ultras of Torcida Split, with whom they have friendly relations; together they are called United Torcida. They have also friendly relations with fans of ROW Rybnik, Wisłoka Dębica, GKS Katowice and German club Schalke 04 .; the latter in past used to be a rival. Fans of Concordia Knurów, Naprzód Rydłutowy, Slavia Ruda Śląska and Czarni Pyskowice are also Górnik fan-clubs.